Valves are used to control the flow of gases or other fluids in various types of apparatus and vehicles, such as aircraft, rockets, and missiles. In certain situations, such as when valves are located in a vehicle propulsion or attitude control system, valves can be subject to hot gas effluent that reaches extremely high temperatures.
Valves that are exposed to such hot gas environments may include a free floating poppet that controls fluid flow through the valve. While such free floating poppet valves generally perform very well, successful operation of such valves may be dependent at least in part on maintaining low friction contact between the moving poppet and static valve components. There may be certain situations in which such a free floating poppet may experience thermal growth and/or a buildup of particulates after exposure to such hot gas environments, which in turn may cause unwanted friction and/or otherwise adversely affect valve performance.
Accordingly, there is a need for a free floating poppet valve that experiences reduced wear, buildup of particulates, and/or friction, and/or that experiences improved performance, in hot gas environments, and preferably without substantially increasing the weight and/or the costs of manufacturing the free floating poppet valve. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs.